The well known European paradox refers to the perceived failure of European countries to translate scientific advances into marketable innovations. On strategic policy level, good actions are already in place to cope with this paradox. Nevertheless, it remains in practice difficult for companies to get into the global market with their ICT innovations.

This issue deserves particular attention since ICT technologies promise to command a greater share of economic activity. The size and effectiveness of investment in software-related R&D can determine economic performance and international competitiveness more broadly. Many firms beyond the traditional software sector embrace software development as a complement to their non-software products and use ICT as a proper mean to innovate.

To face this important evolution, several challenges need to be tackled. The much-discussed knowledge deficit in the ICT sector results in potential skills shortage and imposes companies and knowledge centers to focus on industrial knowledge development and avoid dispersion of capabilities.

ICT innovation efforts are taking place in a context of increasing complexity of services and products. Furthermore the delivery of software products on time, within budget and with an acceptable quality, is a remaining challenging.

Hence, the deployment of ICT innovations needs to be efficient and fast. The industry has come to a stage where few companies are able to play the innovation game alone. This calls for the creation of industrial alliances focused on innovation.

Determined to tackle these new challenges, Institut Telecom, Sirris and VTT today announce the birth of CREATOR, a European expert network that supports ICT innovations through its expertise hubs in various countries, starting with France, Belgium and Finland. CREATOR aims to support the ICT industry to enhance its innovation processes and to create international alliances to design and deploy innovations on the global market.

The three partners in CREATOR share the same strong vision and ambition to tackle the issues of speed-to-global-market and the intrinsic complexity of future ICT services and products. In addition to this shared vision, the partners have their own unique contribution in this partnership.

Institut Telecom is recognized as an international top research and education center for its strong involvement supporting industry large and small companies. It has a profound experience in go-to-market of ICT research via new incubators. Sirris is a leading player in the realization of industrial driven innovation and has a deep experience in the creation and delivery of new generations of ICT services. VTT is an international top research institute and is recognized for its experience in the setup and realization of shared industrial ICT research projects on an international scale.

"Our economy is moving towards an economy of alliance under the pressure of the innovation stream. CREATOR has been designed to support this evolution and Institut Telecom is proud to contribute to it."
(Philippe Letellier, Innovation Director at Institut Telecom)

"VTT has a long and successful tradition of partnerships with larger companies. VTT's main target in the CREATOR alliance concept is to instigate Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) to focus on growth and global markets. CREATOR provide SMEs with new means to offer a complete solution, faster time to market, a wider addressable market as well as a variety of business models to choose from."
(Tatu Koljonen, VP Strategic Research at VTT)

"For companies, software and ICT is a dominant differentiator to innovate their products. By this ICT becomes a key innovation axis for the future. Its societal impact goes beyond national borders and industrial sectors. CREATOR is the beginning of a profound collaboration between European key players to help companies creating value in this new area of globalized innovation."
(Jeroen Deleu, Director at Sirris)